Tools

Ang Lee’s 11th collaboration with producer James Schamus starts out strong and funny before getting mired in 60s nostalgia. Demetri Martin stars as the dutiful son of Jewish immigrants Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman; in the summer of 1969 the couple stand to lose their motel in the Catskills, but the son comes to the rescue by leasing it to the producers of the Woodstock festival. The screenplay is sharp and insightful, the period details ring true, and Martin is appealing as a dreamer conflicted about his homosexuality. But once the action shifts from the town to the festival, any momentum gets lost in a psychedelic haze. With Liev Schreiber and Eugene Levy. R, 120 min.
ByAndrea Gronvall